The world’s largest archaeological museum will open in Egypt next to the Giza pyramids
Near the pyramids of Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum is being prepared for its opening – the world’s largest archaeological complex dedicated to a single civilization. The grand opening of the museum is scheduled for November 1, near Cairo. This is reported by The Guardian.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is located just a kilometer from the pyramids of Giza and covers an area of more than 470 thousand square meters. Construction and preparation for the launch have been repeatedly postponed due to various circumstances, in particular due to political conflicts in the Middle East. World leaders are expected to attend the opening ceremony, along with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The museum’s director general, Ahmed Ghonaim, noted that the facility is equipped with modern projectors and virtual reality systems to make the visit more interactive and interesting for young people:
“We use the language that Generation Z uses, because they don’t use the outdated tools that we, the older generation, prefer technology”.
According to the administration’s forecasts, the museum will be visited by 15 to 20 thousand people daily. Of the total area of 24 thousand square meters, it will be allocated for a permanent exhibition, a children’s zone, conference rooms, training rooms and a center for the preservation of archaeological monuments. Twelve main galleries will house exhibits spanning the period from prehistoric times to the Roman era. They will be arranged chronologically and thematically.
The museum’s collection includes more than 50,000 artifacts, including the 83-ton, 3,200-year-old Colossus of Ramses II and the 4,500-year-old boat of Pharaoh Khufu, who is credited with building the pyramids. Some of the exhibits were transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, located in Tahrir Square, which has long been overcrowded. Other artifacts were found during archaeological excavations, including in the Saqqara necropolis, an ancient complex of pyramids and tombs 20 kilometers from the new museum.
The creation of the complex was first announced in 1992, but construction work did not begin until 2005. Parts of it are set to open to the public in 2024. The museum is part of a major infrastructure project that includes a new metro line and airport development, which began operations in 2020.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is seen as a strategic investment in cultural tourism, a key sector of Africa’s second-largest economy. After a slump in tourism caused by the 2011 Arab Spring and the COVID-19 pandemic, Egypt is gradually recovering its position, with a record 15.7 million tourists visiting the country in 2024. The government plans to double this figure by 2032.
